2026 Filmfest DC Classroom Visits
In late April 2026, Teaching for Change partnered with Filmfest DC: The Washington, DC International Film Festival for a 15th year to bring filmmakers into D.C. classrooms to share some of their films.
Students learned about filmmaking and social justice issues from viewing the films and participating in discussions with the filmmakers. (Read about prior year visits.)
Baristas vs. Billionaires at School without Walls
On April 20, students in Kerry Sylvia’s U.S. Government class welcomed director/producer Mark Mori, producer/editor Robert Judson, actor/co-producer Dennis LA White, and local entrepreneur Lavert Phillips for a lively discussion of the film Baristas vs. Billionaires. The film follows the lives of baristas at Starbucks in Buffalo, New York highlighting their struggles and personal stories, as well as the challenges they face in their efforts to unionize.
Students watched the film before their spring break, and were prepared with questions for the Baristas vs. Billionaires team. Students asked about the inspiration for the film, and how they chose the Buffalo Starbucks workers as the subject. Mark Mori responded that he worked in a steel mill as a union steelworker as a young person. He was inspired to see young people standing up for their rights at Starbucks. Robert Judson shared that they went to several different cities to film before deciding to narrow the focus of the film to workers in Buffalo.
Students asked if there was any footage that they were not allowed to include in the film. The filmmakers shared that they asked to interview Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, but he did not respond. Instead, they used footage from the Starbucks website of his visit to Buffalo. The footage from that video captured a lot of what they wanted to show about his being out of touch with his workers, but they felt a video with him could have shown more.
Students were discouraged that the workers were fired (although they all were fired illegally and won damages) and that the union workers had trouble getting a contract. Mori shared that Starbucks did, in fact, raise wages. He also encouraged students that sometimes you yourself don’t reap the benefits of the fights you begin; this is the early stages of a fight similar to the fight that began in the early 1930s to win labor rights.
He shared that you can find ways to support Starbucks workers, including supporting unionized stores, at the Starbucks Workers United website.
